Ben Wilson Retrospective at The Art Dept.

 

Art Department is thrilled to feature a collection of Wilson’s paintings in tribute to such a quiet visionary. This special show is available for viewing exclusively on First Friday, August 6 from 5-8PM with refreshments generously provided by Hip Chicks Do Wine.

While Ben Wilson (1913-2001) spent 65 years painting in multiple aesthetics, he leaves behind an incredible legacy of abstract work. Whether reacting to the growing catastrophe in Europe in the 1930’s or the lingering uncertainties of modern life in the late 20th century, Wilson was consistently a raw nerve, described by writer on Jewish art Richard McBee as “a bellwether in assessing the moral and emotional state of the world. His paintings were the battleground upon which the artist struggled with himself and a world profoundly unredeemed. His art was a way to reconcile this contradiction. In his own words, his abstract images ‘echo our basic nature[namely that] we are not sequential, we are haphazard and sporadic, we are essentially disjunctive – always off target and subject to interruption’.”

         

The Art Dept.
1315 se 9th (at 9th & main near ActivSpace)
portland, or 97214
541.914.4326 
http://www.artdeptpdx.com